Saturday, October 20, 2007

I haven't been wimping out on writing - just caught a nasty case of pneumonia while on my Texas trip. Sleep and antibiotics are all I have time for right now.

Hope to be making a recovery in the next few days.

PS ~ You would be right to wonder if my pneumonia was a result of crazed drunken debauchery while in Texas for the Patriots vs. Cowboys football game. After all, you get four Shedd men together in one place and all sorts of wild things might happen.

Alas, no. I, as well as my brothers, were well behaved throughout the weekend. We had a few beers and likely ate too much, but generally behaved in a civilized fashion. So I can't blame my pneumonia on a weakened immune system due to drunken binge drinking. Save to del.icio.us

Thursday, October 11, 2007

Seems I was quiet the last two plus weeks - just goes to show that time flies when you're having fun.

Work and home have been hectic recently and I've not had much of a chance to post on the blog. Never fear, I'll soon be back in the swing of things.

We drove Sergei and Natalia to JFK airport on Saturday October 6th for their return flight home. Their month long vacation went rather well, they seemed impressed with our region of the United States. Without a doubt, we gave them the full cultural program (although, sadly we were unable to attend a Boston Red Sox game and had to settle for televised version). There will be more postings on that topic. At least, I hope there will be. Надежда умирает последней. I know that Odnoetazhnaya Amerika has been silent since the first posting. That was largely a result of us doing so many things, Natalia's nervousness about writing, and sorting through what pictures and events were worth discussing. We've been discussing Katja taking over that blog, allowing her to talk about her parents trips and life in general in the U.S. from a Russian perspective. I may also provide some commentary, but I'm hoping to mostly leave it in their hands.

I'll say this - a big part of their trip was spent on shopping. Yes, my Capitalist Pig Bretheren, we have excellent shopping in the United States. Prices, selection, and quality were impressive and Sergei and Natalia deliberately arrived with empty suitcases. Well, at least they were empty after they distributed their gifts. Thank you again for the bottles of vodka (milk-filtered) and the stainless steel shashlyk skewer set. They returned home with two full suitcases and a very large duffle bag stuffed to the maximum. Items purchased varied widely from wet suits, jeans, purses, target air pistols, coats, and cooking gadgets. Everything purchased with $100 bills, of course.

This weekend I am flying to Dallas, Texas for the Patriots vs. Cowboys game. If it isn't clear, I'm cheering for the Patriots. It will be the first time in 15 years that all three of my brothers and I will be together in one place. (Yep, 4 sons. No daughters. I'll offer your condolences to my mother.) It took a football game to make this happen. We're hoping next year we might be able to do the same in Foxboro, Massachusetts. Time will tell.

I'll provide some more posts tonight and tomorrow morning before I leave. I'm bringing along my laptop and if I can get a decent internet connection I'll do some posting on the road as well. I depart on Friday and return on Monday, so likely I'll have some free time at the airport on both days. Save to del.icio.us